Toronto Maple Leafs Trade Speculation: Tyler Bozak for Kyle Turris?

In an article in today's Toronto Star, Damien Cox suggested that Tyler Bozak would be an appropriate price to pay for the services of Kyle Turris.

Turris has been linked to the Toronto Maple Leafs in trade rumors for a while now, due in no small part to the stalemate between his camp and the Coyotes management team with regard to his contract negotiation.

According to ESPN.com, Turris is seeking a three-year deal worth slightly over $4 million annually, or a two-year deal worth slightly over $3 million annually.

The former would bring him to age 25, at which point he will undoubtedly be seeking an even bigger contract to last him well into, or even past, his prime years.

In this article, I will explain why I hope any trade speculation linking Kyle Turris to the Toronto Maple Leafs will remain mere speculation.

Let me begin by talking a bit about Tyler Bozak.

Bozak has been with the Leafs for roughly a season-and-a-half now. In his first 37 games with the Leafs, he posted 27 points (eight of them goals) to go along with a minus-five rating.

That is approximately 0.73 points per game. Leaf fans had high hopes for him because if you extrapolated that statistic onto a full 82-game season, you would get about 60 points out of him.

Not bad for a guy who went undrafted.

In his next 82 games (the 2010-11 season), he posted 32 points (15 of them goals) to go along with a minus-29 rating.

Turris will be lucky to get $2M per year based on his career-high point total of a whopping 25 points.

You'll recall that Bozak's cap hit is $1.5M.

Aside from their perceived value in terms of salary, at least in my eyes, there are a couple other similarities as well.

Would you trade Tyler Bozak for Kyle Turris, straight up?

YesNoSubmit Votevote to see results

Would you trade Tyler Bozak for Kyle Turris, straight up?

Yes

36.9%

No

63.1%

Total votes: 943

They're both centers and they're both right-handed shots.

Barring injuries or incredibly poor play, Tim Connolly and Mikhail Grabovski have the top two center positions locked down, which means any other centermen in the system will be fighting for a bottom-six position.

Therefore, even if Turris were to be traded to Toronto, he would likely end up playing third-line minutes.

Assuming Matthew Lombardi takes a little while longer to heal up, we'd essentially be trading one third-line center for another.

In Cox's article, he says, "Logic suggests that if you have the chance to get a talent like Turris and the cost is Bozak, you do it."

I don't know what kind of logic Cox uses because there are so many other factors to look at when determining whether or not a trade will work.

Yes, Kyle Turris seems to be on the trade market, but that doesn't mean the Leafs have to pursue him for the sake of snagging a player with that level of talent (whatever that might be).

It's too early to be giving up on a player who has only been on the team for a year-and-a-half, especially in favor of a player who has done even less for his team in three years.